


A Break

by NinjaDragonWhat



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Implied Relationships, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 03:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19286854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaDragonWhat/pseuds/NinjaDragonWhat
Summary: The Horde is a lot. Life, is a lot, especially recently. If Kyle is good at one thing, it's hiding from his problems and pretending they don't exist.





	A Break

Kyle stumbled into the dark, empty barracks, eyes fluttering nervously about at dark corners and long shadows. His nerves were strung thin, thinner than usual, the stress of recent weeks weighing heavy on him. Carefully he tiptoed around imaginary obstacles towards his bunk, scrambling up top with a practiced rush.

 

Entrapta, now helping Lord Hordak, did not require watching anymore. He hadn't been told to resume his post, and he wouldn't have asked Catra anyway, but- she was in such a volatile mood lately that he’d much prefer to avoid her than seek her out. But no Entrapta meant no watching; no watching meant sleep. Deep sleep he was long overdue for.

 

He curled up under the sparse covers, staring up at the metal ceiling, willing the fatigue to take him. He'd been hoping this whole time that he'd be exhausted enough to pass out as soon as his head hit the pillow, but he had none such luck. He wasn't even good at sleeping. Shadows loomed at his tired-addled mind, sounds were amplified with terrifying sharpness. Kyle groaned quietly to himself, throwing an arm over his face.

 

Snagging his blanket, he slid down the bunk bed ladder and slunk out of the room. He tiptoed through the base, avoiding voices and footsteps until he reached a small alley that led to lower-level heating and nowhere else. With a strained effort, he pried a large, circular vent cover off the wall, slipped inside, and closed himself in.

 

When he was younger, he'd come here often. His nightmares back then were terrible and unrelenting; small, enclosed spaces were the only cure. He'd crawl in here, sleep, and wake up as soon as the patrol made it’s morning stop at the end of the hall. He'd never gotten caught then, a source of secret pride for him as a child. Now, he didn't care even if he got caught. He just wanted a break.

 

The vent shaft was dusty and the air was stale. Kyle curled up in his blanket, laying his head on his hands and closing his eyes. A thick comfort settled over him, curling around him like the metallic walls. He shifted slightly. Sleep came, then, easy and gentle and sorely overdue.

 

Kyle woke with a start to an old, familiar scratching of claws against the cover to his hiding spot. Light filtered in as Rogelio removed the circular doorway, blinking in silently with that characteristic, unreadable look of his. Kyle froze, his heart pounding and his legs and arms turning to mush.

 

Rogelio climbed in with some difficulty, his frame much larger then it had been in the past. When they were younger, Kyle would crawl in here on a weekly basis, after particularly strenuous training sessions. Rogelio would always come in after him, sit with him, let him sleep curled against his side while holding him close enough that he felt encompassed by the lizard’s bulk.

 

They'd been close, back then. Rogelio had been a bit of an outsider, like Kyle. They'd stuck together.

 

Kyle swallowed, scrunching closer in on himself. “Is Catra asking for me? I'm not supposed to be watching Entrapta, am I? I figured since she was-” He was stopped by a glance from Rogelio, his yellow eyes piercing and solid, but far from unkind. There was a softness in them that Kyle had forgotten he recognized.

 

“...I’m not in trouble?” Rogelio had finally wedged himself in, sitting so he and Kyle’s shoulders were touching. By way of reply, he grumbled softly and nudged Kyle’s cheek gently. “Ok, ok. You know I’ve got a reason to be nervous.”

 

They sat there a minute or two, and Kyle tried desperately to calm his racing pulse. He closed his eyes for a moment, and suddenly remembered the exhaustion that he'd been carrying. Without a word he leaned into Rogelio, his eyes firmly shut. He wasn't going to think about what was going on, at that moment; he wouldn't think about the implications. Instead, he would curl up quietly and try and sleep, and maybe in the morning, he'd be better able to deal with all of it.

 

(He wouldn't, but Kyle liked lying to himself.)

 

Rogelio, if he thought this display of trust unbefitting or odd, made no show of it. Instead, he curled his tail around Kyle to bring him closer in and tuck him against his chest, nuzzling into the caramel blond hair that always threatened to turn into curls if left untamed. A deep rumble emerged from his chest, content and relaxed.

 

Kyle ignored a lot of things, in order to sleep. He ignored the implications of words shouted by the princesses. He ignored the general terribleness if his life with the horde. He ignored sprained ankles and pulled muscles, failed missions and lost soldiers. He also ignored the butterflies taking flight in his chest when Rogelio’s arms wrapped around his shoulders; he ignored the way his ears burned like an inconvenient sunburn.

 

And he ignored the nagging thought behind all this, the knowledge that whatever this was wouldn't last. The horde was cold and harsh and nonsense wasn't tolerated. Feelings were nonsense. Love, affection, anything deemed “soft”? Nonsense.

 

Kyle ignored everything. Instead, he slept. For the first time in years, his sleep was uninterrupted and deep.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna be honest- I wrote this in May while procrastinating studying for finals and only just now thought to publish it. Apologies for any errors, I don't beta my fics.  
> I love ships that tend to be more minor ones in fandom! These two have a cute dynamic, and I'd love to explore it more in the future, potentially.


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